


Day Six: Soulmates

by Eriakit



Series: Liontrust Week 2017 [6]
Category: Warcraft (2016), Warcraft - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, No Dialogue, Soulmates, Telepathic Bond, abuse of the wiggle room granted by blizzard's lack of canon hard lines with magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 04:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11372994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eriakit/pseuds/Eriakit
Summary: So many little moments where what he intended to do was short circuited by expanded awareness.





	Day Six: Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> I just laid in bed for three hours and typed this on my iPad, I'm lost friends go on without me. 
> 
> Some things about this AU which might help with understanding but didn't really fit anywhere:  
> 1: Mages are stronger once they solidify their soulmate bond.  
> 2: If it's a strong bond (either through time spent together, or practice, or just sheer desperate need for connection on both sides leading to needy souls colliding like whizzing asteroids, or something else) then either party can give or take energy from the other, something like a mug of coffee mixed with a healing potion, as needed.  
> 3: Everyone has a soulmate, but some die, or aren't born until the day before YOU die, or you just never come into skin contact with them because of sheer bad luck.  
> 4: Human society is very tightly wound around the idea of soulmates being the be-all, end-all, though they don't have to be ROMANTIC. What you do with the bond is up to you, but it's viewed as a necessity for life to fine yours.  
> 5: The bond, once established through skin on skin contact, starts off as emotional awareness and eventually can be practiced with and trained until you can hold entire conversations with actual words, or practically live in each other's heads, etc.  
> 6: Everyone whose parent/guardian/friendly local priest gives a shit basically gives them a second Talk about how all this shit works and What Can Fuck You Up, which includes attempting to deny the soulmate bond, because That Shit Can Kill You. Lothar's parents gave a shit, so he's not gonna suicide by emotional constipation, at least.

It might have been easier, he supposed, if he’d been in the mindset most people are in when they meet their soulmate. Eager to finally share themselves, happy to find their other half. But he'd long ago given up on that, enjoyed what he had with Cally even while too many people labeled it  _ imperfect _ or  _ temporary,  _ and never felt the need to seek out their so-called perfection after she died. At first out of grief, and then just to spite the twisted fucks who believed it was a good thing, that he could go hunting for his soulmate now, and then just because he was tired, and overworked, and busy trying to figure out how to interact with his son too many years too late.

So when he flipped the uppity little prick who’d broken into his barracks onto a desk and suddenly had a brainful of creative cursing and determination and anger and energy, he didn't react as well as he could have. Hurling insults at your soulmate while pinning them down and threatening bodily harm was pretty low, he had to admit, though at the time he was briefly immune to basic human empathy.

The backlash of  _ pain rejection loneliness fear despair anger spite,  _ though, not even he could be immune to that. The automatic apology that fell from his lips only made him angrier, but he did his best to show it was at himself, at the situation, not the boy -  _ boy, _ he’d known soulmates weren't always born at the same time, but this bordered on ridiculous - on the desk in front of him. The snark and spark and fire the boy rallied with was impressive, even if he could feel the pain fueling it echoed in his head. At least it wasn't  _ all  _ caused by him. 

Anduin wondered, as the boy practically dragged him across the hall to examine a corpse, if he would be taking the mage less seriously if he couldn't feel the honest alarm in his head. If he couldn't hear the intermittent snatches of words, all centered on the apparent upcoming catastrophe. He would like to think he wouldn't have dismissed the boy at his youth, would have seen through to the steel in his spine and the truth in his words even without their link, but he knew himself well enough to doubt it.

The audience with the king was simple enough, though he had to excuse himself to not laugh at the nervous awe the boy - Khadgar, not that he’d likely use that name aloud any time soon, if only to watch him puff up so amusingly again and again - was giving off in waves in their minds. Anduin had to hand it to him, though, he didn't show much of it outwardly, especially not when he got in Llanes face over the map. He wondered if Llane would have tolerated it so well if Anduin hadn't already told him what was going on, that the determined and surprisingly competent brat before them was his soulmate and Llane would probably be dealing with him a lot - if they didn't all die, like Khadgar seemed to fear.

Taria was certainly amused enough for both of them, something of Llane’s tone in some of her words as she -  _ they, _ really - questioned him about it before he could change the subject to arguing over Callan. He felt a shudder go down his spine at the thought of his voice passing on the spellchucker’s words one day, or the reverse, and couldn't tell if it was anticipation or fear.

Medivh was far worse. And almost dead minutes later, as something lethal twisted in Anduin’s chest at the sight of Khadgar held helpless to the wall. Anduin didn't even think before he moved, his hand on the back of Medivh’s neck in warning without any memory of the intervening steps he must have taken. Medivh looked more amused than frightened as he let Khadgar fall, his mouth twitching up at the growl in Anduin’s throat at the careless treatment, but Anduin didn't push it.

He almost walked right past the boy, more focused on thinking up ways to get back at the asshole he somehow still called a friend than the puddle of anger and fabric against the wall. But as his sure steps telegraphed his intention to pass Khadgar entirely he felt the dull flash of resignation and his feet stuttered to a stop. He had his hand out and Khadgar on his feet before he could question it, and looked quickly away from Khadgar’s face before those wide brown eyes could make him worry about what he himself was broadcasting.

So many little moments where what he intended to do was short circuited by expanded awareness. Words he meant to say, to the boy or others, anger he would have let out with acid remarks or sneers cut off at the knees by bright shocks of amusement, bone deep exhaustion driven back by a seemingly endless blaze of energy that he couldn't help but draw on more than once as sleep became less and less important in the face of orcs and fel and portals.

His own anxiousness over a meeting with one of those orcs run over by a wave of terror so strong his eyes watered, and then before he could do more than inhale it had changed to a confused relief that made him feel dizzy. That was the first time he actually  _ tried _ to send something back, to reply, and he cringed later at how uncontrolled his  _ concern worry demand _ must have been to get back a shaky tendril of amusement in return. But it had worked, and the soldier in Anduin helped buck off the last of his nerves about the strangeness of another presence in his head. Soulmate telepathy was often the most valuable form of communication on the battlefield, instant and impossible to intercept and as reliable as the person sending it.

Which is what he told Khadgar, though it came out as more of an order. He took Khadgar’s immediate flare of temper as an opportunity for practice, and they devolved from wordless waves of irritation to laughing aloud at how scrambled their attempts at words were remarkably quickly.

And then there was the meeting. The battle.

Orcs everywhere, and Anduin torn between his friend on a cliff and his king on a battlefield and his son surrounded by monsters and his soulmate sending bursts of  _ alright alive adrenaline fire _ after every jolt of startlement as another orc broke through their lines towards him. Anduin took what he could get, and when Khadgar picked up on his worries he pressed forward behind Callan and the other soldiers, purple and red lights flashing in the corner of Anduin’s vision as orcs fell to magic that might have scared Anduin not too long ago.

And then Medivh’s power rolling over them all, and just as Anduin began to feel relief, his own relief, Khadgar’s pure terror ran from his teeth to his toes, every bone singing with it. He snapped his head to the side to look and saw what Khadgar did - orcs baring down on them, the one in the lead the same skeleton-adorned monster Anduin had fought before. But he also saw Medivh’s barrier coming down swiftly, and  _ behind _ Khadgar, Callan, and the other two soldiers still on their feet.

It was pure instinct, his mind shouting what he saw to Khadgar as his feet slammed into the burnt ground, a battered shard of hope slicing into his chest that maybe, maybe he could get there in time, maybe he could save them.

Khadgar’s head turned, almost in slow motion to Anduin’s eyes. A strange, empty sort of expression crossed his face as the magical lightning arced downward and slammed into the ground mere feet behind his boot, mirrored by the heart-stopping emptiness that opened up like a pit at the edge of Anduin’s mind. And then Khadgar was back in the fight, one of the soldiers standing with Callan screaming as an orc ripped into him before the orc joined him in death as Khadgar’s fire engulfed both bodies.

Anduin ran face first into the magical barrier and was knocked back, bolts of lightning trailing over his hair and skin and armor. He couldn't just  _ watch _ , just do nothing as they fought and died in front of him. He tried repeatedly to break through the barrier, entirely unsuccessfully, until he couldn't think of any other way to try to break through.

Khadgar and Callan were holding their own, but he could see they couldn't last much longer. The other soldier was down, but since Callan was keeping himself between them and the oncoming horde Anduin supposed they weren't dead. Yet.

The image of Callan giving Khadgar and the unconscious soldier a bubble of protection sent a ripple through Anduin’s head, though. A memory, glimpsed in the middle of that first fight in the woods, Khadgar calm and safe within a shield of blue light that not even one of the largest orcs was able to move or crack. He shoved the thought at Khadgar, hope cresting before it fell to bleed as Khadgar’s only response was an echo of how much effort it was taking to continue sending out spells, and a exhaustion-tinged idea of  _ too much, not enough. _ Anduin knew it hadn't taken much effort for Khadgar before, however, so that just meant…

His eyes snapped to Callan, a couple feet out from Khadgar and not small with his shield and armor. Khadgar wouldn't protect himself at the cost of the lives of the others, but what if they were close enough? Something of what he was thinking must have gotten through, as Khadgar’s shoulders went back, his mind suddenly flaring bright with possibility.

Anduin got as close as he could to the barrier and waited, until his attention caught on a slight lull as the orcs circled mockingly. Khadgar couldn't speak and cast at the same time, so he had to get his son’s attention himself. His first shout went unheard, his son too focused on the fight to hear over the noise, so he tried again, and again, until he was yelling loud enough to make his throat strain and Callan jerked. But he didn't turn, and Anduin felt a rush of pride as he maintained his guard. His next word was barked with as much command as he could muster, no room for argument, the simple order to retreat possibly the loudest Anduin had ever been.

He could see the thought  _ to where _ in the line of his son’s shoulders, but Callan started to move. Inch by inch, keeping his footing steady and his shield up, and he sent one impatient orc sprawling with a gut wound as the others jeered at what they seemed to see as cowardice. Callan’s heel hit the edge of the fallen soldier’s armor and he stopped, unwilling to place a foot wrong or turn to see when he was stepping.

Khadgar was already moving, using what Anduin could pass through their link to guide him so he continue to keep the orcs at bay with fireballs and bolts of arcane without having to worry about falling. He tensed, and darted forward the last bit, one hand coming down hard on Callan’s shoulder as if to ground himself as the other shot into the air, bright blue light solidifying around all three of them.

The orc leader roared and charged forward. Callan braced, easy for the attack, but the orc slammed into Khadgar’s shield the same as Anduin had off of Medivh’s. Anduin felt the impact through Khadgar, the strain on his fading energy, and held a moment of fear before Khadgar steadied. He remembered the bonfire of Khadgar’s energy when Anduin had been trying to sleep and fumblingly attempted to push his own through the bond. Khadgar’s hand squeezed Callan’s armor until his fingers went white, and he managed to send a full sentence through.

_ I can hold. _

Anduin filled in the  _ for now  _ himself, watching Khadgar’s arms twitch minutely as three other orcs joined their leader in slamming into the shield. He had to get them out of there, but how? The orcs weren't leaving, and Stormwind's forces had to retreat before Medivh ran out of energy. Time was slipping through his fingers, and he desperately wished he could reach out to Medivh, could beg him to push his spell just a few feet further forward.

Khadgar twitched again in front of him, but this time not from an orc colliding with his spell. His thoughts were too fast for Anduin to catch and too desperately academic to give off enough emotion for Anduin to guess. But then the hand raised toward the sky closed into a fist and drew closer to Khadgar’s body, the shield closing in tighter around them with it, and Anduin held his breath as Khadgar slowly took a step back and dragged Callan with him.

Callan caught on as quickly as Anduin had, and bent down to haul the other soldier up as carefully as he could. Khadgar’s spell wavered when Callan moved but regained its strength when Callan moved Khadgar’s hand so it rested on the opposite shoulder, so he could hold the unconscious soldier as close to them as possible with the other arm. The shield contacted even further, bare inches between it and its inhabitants, and didn't so much at shiver as the orcs beat against it. The orcs seemed to sense the change, desperate to break the shield before Khadgar could finish what he had planned.

Another shaky step back, and another, and then Khadgar’s head snapped back as his barrier and Medivh’s collided. Anduin’s knees almost buckled from just the mirror of the recoil Khadgar felt. The two spells shuddered against each other, splintering lightning against solid light, and Khadgar’s eyes shone brighter and brighter until finally he lifted his foot and again took another step. It pressed his shield into the lightning, unstoppable force against what had seemed to be an immovable object, and then the lightning crackled louder and split again, arching  _ over _ Khadgar’s shield like a second layer of protection, burning and knocking back the orcs attacking them.

A final step, and all three of them were past the barrier just as it snapped back into its original shape.

The light flickered out of Khadgar’s eyes as the shield seemed to disintegrate. He stumbled, and Callan held him up by the elbow for the half second it took Anduin to catch him in his arms as he blacked out, the buzz at the back of Anduin’s mind going quiet. Swallowing any of the million things tightening his throat, he met Callan’s eyes and jerked his head toward the retreating forces.

Callan bent and flipped the other soldier up over his shoulder like a flour sack and started marching, while Anduin set reason to the side and stooped to slide his left arm under Khadgar's knees before following him, settling him against his chest. After all that, Khadgar didn't deserve to wake up to bruises on his belly from Anduin’s armor.

But he  _ would _ wake up. Whatever else came next, both Khadgar and his son would wake up tomorrow, something he had been sure was an impossibility when Medivh’s spell first came down. It was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> A few more things I would've loved to fit in and why I might expand this a billion years from now when I next get Inspired:  
> 1: Orcs also have soulmates.  
> 2: Medivh's soulmate was Garona's mom and he went "traveling" to find her, and when he didn't find her on Azeroth went looking on other planets, because he's a lonely drama queen with too much power. He was very smug when he found her, and by the time he had to go back to Azeroth they could hold conversation in their heads. This was great as a long distance relationship tool until he was in her head as she died. It's also how he knows about Garona.  
> 3: Khadgar's bubble would not have been strong enough to survive contact with Medivh's wall before he and Lothar strengthened the bond through use/practice.  
> 4: Callan and Khadgar end up total bros after this shit, and Callan gives his own father the shovel talk because he knows his dad can be an ass without meaning to be.  
> 5: I haven't decided if Medivh lives in this AU yet but Llane does.  
> 6: Taria and Llane have a bond so strong and so well-used they can basically bodyswap if they want to, and they do that sometimes, and it really fucks with Lothar's head.  
> 7: the Guardian is supposed to remain aloof and unattached specifically because randomly shaking someone's hand or buying some sex for the night can sometimes lead to Oops, Soulmate, and even though that makes the mage stronger, it also compromises them in the extreme. Which was another reason Medivh was smug his soulmate was on another planet - no factional issues when its another, unknown planet, right?! HA.
> 
> If there's anything else you wanna know about the AU you can ask in comments because I doubt any expansion of this will get done quickly. The answer is probably in my head already because I kinda obsessed on it all day. This is why I'm scared to write AUs, fyi.


End file.
